diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 76b5209a7..32066f538 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test docs.rs
         run: cargo test -- --test-threads=1
 
+      - name: Install HTML parser
+        # TODO: don't hardcode this for amd64
+        run: >
+            wget https://github.com/ericchiang/pup/releases/download/v0.4.0/pup_v0.4.0_linux_amd64.zip &&
+            [ "$(sha256sum pup_v0.4.0_linux_amd64.zip | cut -d ' ' -f 1)" =
+            ec3d29e9fb375b87ac492c8b546ad6be84b0c0b49dab7ff4c6b582eac71ba01c ] &&
+            unzip pup_v0.4.0_linux_amd64.zip
+
+      - name: Test docs.rs more thoroughly
+        run: cp .env.sample .env && PATH="$PATH:." ./test.sh
+
   docker:
     name: Docker
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/src/docbuilder/mod.rs b/src/docbuilder/mod.rs
index f07844b74..c6e5e8b7c 100644
--- a/src/docbuilder/mod.rs
+++ b/src/docbuilder/mod.rs
@@ -44,12 +44,10 @@ impl DocBuilder {
         let path = PathBuf::from(&self.options.prefix).join("cache");
         let reader = fs::File::open(path).map(|f| BufReader::new(f));
 
-        if reader.is_err() {
-            return Ok(());
-        }
-
-        for line in reader.unwrap().lines() {
-            self.cache.insert(line?);
+        if let Ok(reader) = reader {
+            for line in reader.lines() {
+                self.cache.insert(line?);
+            }
         }
 
         self.load_database_cache()?;
diff --git a/src/docbuilder/rustwide_builder.rs b/src/docbuilder/rustwide_builder.rs
index 61a1099d7..ed1f3e1d3 100644
--- a/src/docbuilder/rustwide_builder.rs
+++ b/src/docbuilder/rustwide_builder.rs
@@ -73,8 +73,12 @@ impl RustwideBuilder {
         let is_docker = std::env::var("DOCS_RS_DOCKER")
             .map(|s| s == "true")
             .unwrap_or(false);
+        let fast_init = std::env::var("DOCS_RS_FAST_INIT")
+            .map(|s| s == "true")
+            .unwrap_or(false);
         let workspace = WorkspaceBuilder::new(Path::new(workspace_path), USER_AGENT)
             .running_inside_docker(is_docker)
+            .fast_init(fast_init)
             .init()?;
         workspace.purge_all_build_dirs()?;
 
diff --git a/src/utils/copy.rs b/src/utils/copy.rs
index bc47c78f7..21b29356c 100644
--- a/src/utils/copy.rs
+++ b/src/utils/copy.rs
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ mod test {
     use super::*;
 
     #[test]
-    #[ignore]
     fn test_copy_dir() {
         let destination = tempdir::TempDir::new("cratesfyi").unwrap();
 
diff --git a/src/web/badge/badge.rs b/src/web/badge/badge.rs
index d59a97bf2..a2f3c037d 100644
--- a/src/web/badge/badge.rs
+++ b/src/web/badge/badge.rs
@@ -166,7 +166,6 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    #[ignore]
     fn test_to_svg() {
         use std::fs::File;
         use std::io::Write;
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f646fd862
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# test script for docs.rs
+# requires the following tools installed:
+# - docker-compose
+# - curl
+# - pup (https://github.com/EricChiang/pup)
+
+set -euv
+
+HOST=http://localhost:3000
+
+cp .env .env.bak
+
+cleanup() {
+	mv .env.bak .env
+	docker-compose down
+}
+
+trap cleanup exit
+echo DOCS_RS_FAST_INIT=true >> .env
+
+docker-compose build
+# run a dummy command so that the next background command starts up quickly
+# and doesn't try to compete with `build` commands
+docker-compose run web -- --help || true
+# this never exits, run it in the background
+docker-compose up -d
+# ensure that if the web server doesn't start up we catch the error
+for i in $(seq 1 5); do
+	curl -I $HOST && break
+	# if we've tried 5 times, exit with error
+	! [ "$i" = 5 ]
+	sleep 5
+done
+
+# build a crate and store it in the database if it does not already exist
+build() {
+	docker-compose run web build --skip --skip-if-log-exists crate "$@"
+}
+
+# build a few types of crates
+# library
+build rand 0.7.2
+# binary
+build bat 0.12.1
+# proc-macro
+build rstest 0.4.1
+# multiple crate types
+build sysinfo 0.10.0
+# renamed crate
+build constellation-rs 0.1.8
+# used later for latest version
+build rand 0.6.5
+build pyo3 0.2.7
+build pyo3 0.8.3
+
+# small wrapper around curl to hide extraneous output
+curl() {
+    command curl -s -o /dev/null "$@"
+}
+
+# exit with a failure message
+die() {
+	echo "$@"
+	exit 1
+}
+
+# give the HTTP status of a page hosted locally
+status() {
+	curl -I -w "%{http_code}" "$HOST$1"
+}
+
+# give the URL a page hosted locally redirects to
+# if the page does not redirect, returns the same page it was given
+redirect() {
+	curl -IL -w "%{url_effective}" "$HOST$1"
+}
+
+version_redirect() {
+    command curl -s "$HOST$1" | pup "form ul li a.warn attr{href}"
+}
+
+assert_eq() {
+	[ "$1" = "$2" ] || die "expected '$1' to be '$2'"
+}
+
+assert_status() {
+	assert_eq "$(status "$1")" "$2"
+}
+assert_redirect() {
+	assert_eq "$(redirect "$1")" "$HOST$2"
+}
+assert_version_redirect() {
+	assert_eq "$(version_redirect "$1")" "$2"
+}
+
+# make sure the crates built successfully
+for crate in /rand/0.7.2/rand /rstest/0.4.1/rstest /sysinfo/0.10.0/sysinfo /constellation-rs/0.1.8/constellation; do
+	echo "$crate"
+	assert_status "$crate/" 200
+done
+
+assert_redirect /bat/0.12.1/bat /crate/bat/0.12.1
+
+# make sure it shows source code for rustdoc
+assert_status /constellation-rs/0.1.8/src/constellation/lib.rs.html 200
+# make sure it shows source code for docs.rs
+assert_status /crate/constellation-rs/0.1.8/source/ 200
+# with or without trailing slashes
+assert_redirect /crate/constellation-rs/0.1.8/source /crate/constellation-rs/0.1.8/source/
+
+# check 'Go to latest version' keeps the current page
+assert_version_redirect /rand/0.6.5/rand/trait.Rng.html \
+                        /rand/0.7.2/rand/trait.Rng.html
+# and the current platform
+assert_version_redirect /rand/0.6.5/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/rand/fn.thread_rng.html \
+                        /rand/0.7.2/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/rand/fn.thread_rng.html
+# latest version searches for deleted items
+assert_version_redirect /rand/0.6.5/rand/rngs/struct.JitterRng.html \
+                        "/rand/0.7.2/rand/?search=JitterRng"
+# for renamed items
+assert_version_redirect /pyo3/0.2.7/pyo3/exc/struct.ArithmeticError.html \
+                        "/pyo3/0.8.3/pyo3/?search=ArithmeticError"
+# check std library redirects
+for crate in std alloc core proc_macro test; do
+	echo $crate
+	# with or without slash
+	assert_eq "$(redirect /$crate)" https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/$crate/
+	assert_eq "$(redirect /$crate/)" https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/$crate/
+done